Drharrietd

LATEST ARTICLES ( 303 )

• Still Missing

  

  ‘Haunting, harrowing and highly effective… a stunning shocker of an ending…It strings out the suspense to the almost unendurable.’ Not my words, but those of... Read more

  Posted on 01 March 2013 BOOKS, CULTURE

• Woman Writing (on a Tree)

  

  This is The Souvenir, painted in about 1775 by Jean-Honore Fragonard (1732-1806). OK, she shouldn't be defacing that tree, but let's forgive her, shall we?... Read more

  Posted on 16 February 2013 BOOKS, CULTURE

• Farewell, My Lovely

  

  I needed a drink, I needed a lot of life insurance, I needed a vacation, I needed a home in the country. What I had was a coat, a hat and a gun. I put them on... Read more

  Posted on 13 February 2013 BOOKS, CULTURE

• Girl with Book

  

  Mary Lapsley Caughey (1916). This is by John Butler Yeats (1839-1922), father of WB. You can see many of his paintings - mostly portraits, including several of... Read more

  Posted on 09 February 2013 BOOKS, CULTURE

• A Family and a Fortune

  

  There are many circles in the world of blogging -- which I can't bring myself to call the blogosphere, though many do. I myself have a nice list of blogs that... Read more

  Posted on 07 February 2013 BOOKS, CULTURE

• Therese Raquin

  

  I've made a strange and disquieting discovery. A few days ago, dovegreyreader was urging people to read Zola, and, though I didn't say so in the comments, I... Read more

  Posted on 05 February 2013 BOOKS, CULTURE

• Ordinary Thunderstorms

  

  There are many things I can't do, ranging from brain surgery through anything to do with science or mathematics to brick-laying and heavy lifting. But most of... Read more

  Posted on 03 February 2013 BOOKS, CULTURE

• Girl Reading

  

  This is 'A Schoolgirl' by the Liverpool born painter Luke Fildes (1843-1927). His social realist paintings and engravings attracted Dickens, who asked him to... Read more

  Posted on 02 February 2013 BOOKS, CULTURE

• Abandoned Books

  

  Everyone is always going on about how many books they have on their TBR pile -- but I'm becoming more and more aware of how many I have on my CNF pile --... Read more

  Posted on 30 January 2013 BOOKS, CULTURE

• Ten Things I've Learnt About Love

  

  It's awfully nice of publishers to send me books to review, especially as I'm rather picky and quite often don't actually review them. Read more

  Posted on 28 January 2013 BOOKS, CULTURE

• Boy Reading

  

  This lovely drawing, actually called La Lecture, was sent to me by a friend in America. The artist is Alix Ayme (1894-1989). Here is what my friend told me abou... Read more

  Posted on 26 January 2013 BOOKS, CULTURE

• Hitchcock Mania

  

  I hardly ever watch television - there's never anything I want to see. But I do like watch films on my computer and at the moment I'm obsessed with Hitchcock. Read more

  Posted on 25 January 2013 ENTERTAINMENT

• Children Reading

  

  "An Interesting Story", by Leon Perrault (1832-1908), who was famous for painting children. You can see a great many more of his paintings here. Many of them ar... Read more

  Posted on 19 January 2013 BOOKS, CULTURE

• The Nightmare

  

  Lars Kepler is two people -- for some reason this seems to be not uncommon in crime writing (cf. Sjowall and Wahloo, or Nikki French). I always wonder how they... Read more

  Posted on 18 January 2013 BOOKS, CULTURE

• Waiting for Sunrise

  

  It is a clear and dazzling summer's day in Vienna. You are standing in a skewed pentangle of lemony sunshine at the sharp corner of Augustiner Strasse and... Read more

  Posted on 10 January 2013 BOOKS, CULTURE

• Marginalia

  

  Many years ago, when I was in (and indeed at) Oxford, my distinguished tutor borrowed a book from me. It was a newly published one, about Coleridge and the... Read more

  Posted on 09 January 2013 BOOKS, CULTURE

• In a Dry Season

  

  So many books I read these days seem to come to me rather fortuitously -- in other words, I find them in charity shops or on other peoples' bookshelves -- but... Read more

  Posted on 06 January 2013 BOOKS, CULTURE

• 2012 in First Lines

  Oh Simon -- you have just made me waste half an hour. Never mind, it was fun. It's a meme, of course, and here is what Simon says about it: It's quite simple -... Read more

  Posted on 04 January 2013 BOOKS, CULTURE

• Woman Reading on Christmas Day

  

  Yes, this is indeed called Christmas Day, and was painted in about 1938 by the American artist Francis Criss (1901-1973). I hope your day was as enjoyable as... Read more

  Posted on 29 December 2012 BOOKS, CULTURE

• The Prodigal Spy

  

  I'm really not sure what's happened to my reading of late. Where are all the Viragos and Persephones that used to be my daily fare? Read more

  Posted on 28 December 2012 BOOKS, CULTURE